Why Prometheus Will Be a Good Film

the release date for Prometheus, the latest in the Alien series and a prequel to the first Alien film, is just around the corner and promises to be a major event. Trailers provoked a lot of positive enthusiasm for the film and it looks set to be a bigger box office hit than expected.

Ridley Scott’s film Alien was a major success and great science Fiction horror film, but the franchise had become diluted since the first film. The main issue that caused the films to gradually get worse is that the Alien in the first film is very different to those in the later films. In the first film it is an organism which is simply superior to humanity. From the second film onwards it was nothing but a glorified ant. This is not to say that James Cameron’s Aliens was not a good film, but it hurt the tradition on which the film was based by having the concept of the Alien become to simplified and easy to destroy. As Prometheus is directed by the same director as the very first film it seems to be a move back to the exotic and dangerous nature of the Alien itself.

Part of what made the first Alien film so effective was that the Alien was truly an Alien. Whereas the later films with their ant-like Aliens removed any mystery. Without that mysterious element, the horror of the series soon evaporated. Prometheus seems to be a return to the horror/science fiction roots of the setting, and a welcome one at that. The first Alien film remains one of the best horror films created, with Prometheus seeming set to follow in its foot steps. Some of the imagery shown in the trailer alone was very disturbing:

Furthermore, there is an underlying promise that the film will explore questions relating to god, the origins of humanity and belief. Fantastic fodder for Science Fiction and even better for the kinds of disturbing, nihilistic themes that make great Science Fiction Horror work on a deeper, more profound level. These qualities will come together well to make Prometheus a great film.